LYNN — Despite holding the lead for nearly the entire game, the Lynn Classical girls basketball team ended up needing to hang on in order to pull out a 49-48 victory over Greater Boston League foe Medford at home Tuesday afternoon. The Rams, who won their season opener in an overtime thriller, led by as many as 11 points over the course of the game, but it still came down to the final seconds.
“These girls are going to give me more gray hair than I already have,” said Classical coach Tom Sawyer. “We led for pretty much the whole game, but it never felt like we had it in control. Give all the credit to Medford, they rallied and fought until the end, but we were able to make just enough plays in order to come away with the win.”
Senior Amelia Pedro led the way for Classical in the win with 19 points, 16 of them coming in the first half.
“It was great to see her come out as a senior in her first game back in her home gym and have a performance like that,” Sawyer said of Pedro. “She came out hot and really propelled us in that first half.”
Sophomore Ava Thurman added 14 points in the win, while junior Reese Brinkler had six points and eight rebounds. Freshman Lauren Wilson (four points, five rebounds) and sophomore Lauren Hennessey (four points, three rebounds) also played well for the Rams.
It was a slow start to the game for both teams, with neither side able to score a basket over the first three minutes of play. Once things started to pick up, Classical got some big plays down the stretch from Thurman and Pedro to stretch the lead out to 10 points and take a 19-9 lead into the second quarter.
But Medford wouldn’t go away. The Mustangs battled back to get within three points in the second quarter, with Classical eventually taking a 30-25 lead into the halftime break.
After stretching its lead back out to nine points by the end of the third quarter, the Rams eventually went cold for a portion of the fourth. Medford was able to battle all the way back to tie the score at 46-46 with one minute to play, but three clutch free throws down the stretch — one from Thurman and two from Hennessey — Classical was able to hold Medford off just long enough to take home the win.
Classical (2-0) hosts Everett Friday evening (6).
“We’ve got to improve on the defensive end for sure, but we did a lot of good things out there (Tuesday),” said Sawyer. “Sometimes it’s just a matter of whether you make shots or not. I liked what we had for shot selection, but they just didn’t go down as much as we’d like. We still have plenty of room to improve, which is good.”
